The sub-20 5k dread-thread

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Chrisull Feb 2015 1:27pm, 28 Feb 2015 6,959 posts	0 Chrisull Well done Curly - terrific!
Curly45 Feb 2015 1:29pm, 28 Feb 2015 2,560 posts	0 Curly45 Cheers Chris
Huntsman Feb 2015 1:33pm, 28 Feb 2015 1,428 posts	0 Huntsman Brilliant Curly! Smashed it too.
Rog T Feb 2015 6:48pm, 28 Feb 2015 90 posts	0 Rog T nice one Curly - you might as well do it properly, eh?
porschegeoff Mar 2015 8:21pm, 2 Mar 2015 10 posts	0 porschegeoff Well done to those who've managed a sub 20. I managed a 20.19 at the end of 2013 and getting closer again after a fall off in fitness in the latter stages of last year following a change of job which meant running was temporarily on the back burner. In the past few weeks my parkrun times (all on the same course - Dulwich Park) have been 21.39, 20.59, 20.42, 20.45 & 20.51. Have increased my weekly mileage the 2-3 weeks and as a result I suffered from heavy legs the past couple of Saturdays. I guess the secret is to target a particular date and maybe have an easier week to avoid the heavy legged feeling.
Curly45 Mar 2015 9:02pm, 2 Mar 2015 2,568 posts	0 Curly45 PorscheGeoff it was pretty windy at Dulwich this week. It does make a difference on that course as its on the final bit you feel it most! I would recommend some 400m reps for a few weeks before you go back and give it a hard hit. Also worth having a look at.your pacing and see if it slows off, could be you are going out a little hard and would benefit from starting a bit more slowly. Good luck.
Uyuni Mar 2015 9:53am, 27 Mar 2015 57 posts	0 Uyuni I should join this thread as I’ve been trying to break 20 mins for a few years now. Currently training for the London marathon so it is not a focus at the moment but I’m determined to finally do it once the marathon is out of the way. Marathon training has certainly helped get my 10k time down so it has got to help over 5k surely. Have done over 100 parkruns with best times in 2012 - 22.54, 2013 - 20.10 and 2014 - 20.04 so I am almost there but those last few seconds are proving impossible to shift. I even went down to Poole last summer after hearing that it was perfectly flat but blew up going round the cricket pitch for 20.09.
Curly45 Mar 2015 10:06am, 27 Mar 2015 2,629 posts	0 Curly45 I feel your pain Uyuni! I was stuck at 20:03 for two years, then broke it to run a 20:01... I did not long after set my pb though. Two things helped: marathon training 400m reps at track I knew I was on for it when I did 10 reps and recoveries in 2:30, with the 400m reps at around 1:23! Since you are probably not in the zone for track at the moment. I would recommend booking a 5k 4 weeks after the marathon to take advantage of your kick back
Uyuni Mar 2015 10:24am, 27 Mar 2015 58 posts	0 Uyuni Cheers Curly. I noticed your 19.33 on the last page which was a brilliant effort - 400 m reps it is then!
MudMeanderer Mar 2015 12:55pm, 27 Mar 2015 1,513 posts	0 MudMeanderer Curly, did you predominantly do reps like you describe for speed work, or did you do any sort of other track work? We've very occasionally done sessions like you describe, but more commonly do intervals run slower (c 1.28-1.30 per lap) with much shorter rest (c 45s) and more of them (16). A couple of the programs I've looked at include both types, and I was just wondering if you particularly felt the faster ones worked better?